Richárd Rapport (born 25 March 1996) is a Hungarian
chess grandmaster
Grandmaster (GM) is a title awarded to chess players by the world chess organization FIDE. Apart from World Champion, Grandmaster is the highest title a chess player can attain. Once achieved, the title is held for life, though exceptionally it h ...
currently playing for Romania. A chess prodigy, he earned his grandmaster title at the age of 13 years, 11 months, and six days, making him Hungary's youngest ever grandmaster. He was the Hungarian Chess Champion in 2017 and was the fifth-rated player in the world in May 2022.
Early life
Rapport was born in Szombathely, Hungary, to Tamás Rapport and Erzsébet Mórocz, both economists. He learned chess at age four from his father.
Titles
In 2006, he won the European Championships U10. Rapport achieved the
National Master
A chess title is a title regulated by a chess governing body and bestowed upon players based on their performance and rank. Such titles are usually granted for life. The international chess governing body FIDE grants several titles, the most pre ...
title in 2008 and became an
International Master
FIDE titles are awarded by the international chess governing body FIDE (''Fédération Internationale des Échecs'') for outstanding performance. The highest such title is Grandmaster (GM). Titles generally require a combination of Elo rating and ...
the next year. In March 2010, at the Gotth'Art Kupa in Szentgotthárd, he fulfilled the final norm and rating requirements for the Grandmaster title. He came in second on the tournament behind his trainer Alexander Beliavsky and tied with
Lajos Portisch
Lajos Portisch (born 4 April 1937) is a Hungarian chess Grandmaster, whose positional style earned him the nickname, the "Hungarian Botvinnik". One of the strongest non-Soviet players from the early 1960s into the late 1980s, he participated ...
(one of the strongest non-Soviet players in the second half of the 20th century). Thus, at the age of 13 years, 11 months and 6 days, he became the youngest ever Hungarian grandmaster (the previous record was held by former world title challenger Péter Lékó), and the fifth youngest chess grandmaster in history at the time.
Chess career
2013
In May, Rapport tied for first in the Sigeman & Co Chess Tournament, together with Nigel Short and Nils Grandelius, winning on tiebreaks (head-to-head result). He scored 4½/7 (+3−1=3).
In December, Rapport won the European Rapid Chess Championship and finished fourth in the European Blitz Chess Championship.
2016
From 20 to 23 December, Rapport won a match against 17-year-old Chinese player Wei Yi, held in Yancheng, China. At the time, Rapport was the highest rated ''junior'' (under 21) player at 2717, and Wei Yi was the second-highest rated at 2707. They tied a match of four classical games with a win each and two draws, then tied a tiebreak match of two blitz games, winning one each. The final tiebreak of the match was an Armageddon game, which Rapport won with the black pieces by resignation.
Arkadij Naiditsch
Arkadij Naiditsch ( az, Arkadi Naydiç; born 25 October 1985) is an Azerbaijani (since 2015) chess grandmaster who previously represented Latvia (until 2005) and Germany (2005–2015).
Career
In 1995 he won the European Under-10 champ ...
Sam Shankland
Samuel L. Shankland (born October 1, 1991) is an American chess grandmaster. He won the U.S. Chess Championship in 2018.
Shankland was California State Champion in 2008, 2009, 2011 and 2012, and Champion of State Champions in 2009. He won bronz ...
in their match, which was part of the USA vs. The World tournament.
2020
Rapport won the 11th Danzhou Tournament. He was the only player to remain undefeated and finished half a point ahead of GM Ding Liren.
Belgrade
Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...
, Serbia.
That performance, together with reaching the semi-finals in the first leg, was enough to clinch a top-two spot in the Grand Prix and qualify for the
2022 Candidates Tournament
The 2022 Candidates Tournament was an eight-player chess tournament to decide the challenger for the World Chess Championship 2023. The tournament took place at the Palacio de Santoña in Madrid, Spain, from June 16 to July 5, 2022,https://www.chessdom.com/breaking-richard-rapport-changes-federation-to-romania/ BREAKING: Richard Rapport changes federation to Romania It was officially announced that he would be switching federations in September 2022.
2023
Rapport was one of the participants of the Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2023 in which he had a rough start by losing to chess prodigy
Nodirbek Abdusattorov
Nodirbek Abdusattorov (born 18 September 2004) is an Uzbek chess grandmaster and the 2021 World Rapid Chess Champion. A chess prodigy, he qualified for the grandmaster title at the age of 13 years, 1 month, and 11 days. FIDE awarded him the ...
and later losing to World Champion Magnus Carlsen but returned by defeating the Indian grandmaster
Arjun Erigaisi
Arjun Erigaisi (born 3 September 2003) is an Indian chess grandmaster. He is the reigning Indian national chess champion. He earned the title of grandmaster at the age of 14 years, 11 months, 13 days, making him the 32nd youngest person ever t ...
, and later in round 12 snatched a victory against the World No 2. Chinese Grandmaster Ding Liren. Rapport finished the tournament placing 8th out of 14 with a score of 6½/13.
Rapport also played the role of Ding's during the World Chess Championship 2023, in which Ding won against Ian Nepomniachtchi.
Personal life
He has lived in
Belgrade
Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...
Jovana Vojinović
Jovana Rapport (née Vojinović, sr-Cyrl, Јована Војиновић; born 18 February 1992) is a Serbian-Romanian chess player. She holds the title of Woman Grandmaster (WGM), which FIDE awarded her in 2009. She is a two-time Montenegrin ...
, a Woman Grandmaster, is from. They married in 2016.
Playing style
Rapport often uses unusual openings even in official tournaments. One of the most common of these is the Nimzo–Larsen Attack, also known as
Larsen's Opening
Larsen's Opening (also called the Nimzo–Larsen Attack or Queen's Fianchetto Opening) is a chess opening starting with the move:
:1. b3
It is named after the Danish grandmaster Bent Larsen. Larsen was inspired by the example of the great Latv ...
. He plays aggressively, normally playing for a win with both white and black and is considered one of the more exciting players to watch.